18 Points for Creativity

18 Points for Creativity

I thought this was a pretty fun and unorthodox way to display your family tree.

(scrabble family board found here)

Perhaps it was a family of writers. I wonder if they argued over whose name was worth the most points.

But what do you do if you're a family of, say, whalers? How would you show off your ancestors? Or a family of haberdashers? You know, all those many, many families of haberdashers out there. . . .

What has your family done to display its roots?

What goes around comes around

What goes around comes around

It seems like every young mother I run into these days is toting along a new baby girl with an old name. I can't believe how many Graces, Charlottes, Victorias, Ellas, and Sophias I've been meeting.

The top 5 female baby names of last year:

Isabella
Emma
Olivia
Sophia
Ava

Is this odd to anyone else? Where do all these antique names come from? Are they family names? Are we aiming for some sort of connection to the past, to times we consider (however naively) to be simpler?

Also, if what's old is new again, what about naming your daughter some of the forgotten names of yore:

Bessie, Hattie, Pearl, Cora, Blanche, and perhaps my favorite unfortunate old-time name, Dorcas.

What names do you predict will rule the 2010s?